About my fascination surrounding Neon Evangelion. It's not my fault, I kept on seeing similarities in Tamers and decided to pepper some of it into my fic but it is not going to be anything extreme. Just a few references and such, nothing major. Besides the guy who wrote Tamers had a major thing for Evangelion.
Warning. Dark themes involving death and such. I will now be upping the rating of my fic to R.
Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. Life has been sort of hectic since I had to do my exams. Furthermore of June 29, I will be gone. I have to Japan for two weeks to visit my grandmother and such in Asashikawa, so don't expect another chapter of this story any time soon.
Thank you for your patience and I hope you like this chapter.
Oderint dum metuant Let them hate me provided they do fear me
The train ride to Hongou was something Ryou did not quite expect nor did he realize the extent of fear that digimon now inspired until he got on. For example people were actually not coming towards him and bugging him for autographs. That was fine and all but he wished it were for a completely different reason other than fear. It was unusual since he was so well known; in fact they were keeping at least a ten-foot radius away from Ryou. It probably had to do with the fact that Monodramon was busy looking out the window with rapt attention and swinging his tail like a dog. The people on the train seemed genuinely terrified at the sight of the digimon. They whispered amongst themselves and quite a few gave them threatening glares. Ryou smiled nervously and then looked at his partner.
"Hey! Ice cream... That reminds Ryou we didn't have dessert after dinner," Monodramon idly commented when he saw a little girl outside of the train when it stopped at a subway platform. The little girl Monodramon was looking at froze up at the sight of the digimon and then ran away screaming towards her mother. Needless to say no more people got on board and more got off to get away from Monodramon.
"Mono...." Ryou said irritated voice. Before Ryou could say anything someone on the subway platform threw a rock at the window behind where Ryou was sitting and shattered it. That made Ryou duck and cover in time while people on the subway platform began throwing junk at the windows of the train.
"What are you doing there you stupid kid! Get off the train! There's a digimon right besides you!" A woman shouted in from the crowd. Some of the more proactive people began throwing junk and more stones at the windows. All were aimed at Monodramon and Ryou, it wasn't until a few seconds that the doors closed and the train began moving away from the platform. Ryou kept his head down and he heard a few more windows break before raising his head to see what happened. The interior of the subway was a mess and Monodramon was delicately picking off a half eaten ice cream cone off his horns.
"Well... that was smashing success! They all love me," Monodramon said sarcastically. He looked at the garbage littering the train from people's unexpected volleys and the glass from broken windows. The pun and irony of Mondromon's words however were lost on Ryou as he surveyed the damage. He got out Kenta's borrowed black book and noted that they would be getting off the next stop.
".... I never thought that people would be so scared out of their wits," Ryou finally admitted. He should have known better than to parade Monodramon in the open after he heard about Antylamon and the various condemnation of digimon on the news. It was ridiculous but ever since the D-reaper incident people had been leery of things that came from the Digital World.
"Hongou! We are now stopping at Hongou!" An announcer proclaimed over the PA system.
"I guess we get off here..." Ryou sighed. He wished he had a bigger jacket or maybe a blanket to cover Monodramon up but now it was too late.
"Let's go then!" Monodramon said enthusiastically forgetting completely that people had been throwing junk at him and insulting him. Ryou took off his jacket and covered Monodramon's head with it to try and hide him. Which was an act of futility seeing how Monodramon hated being covered like so.
"You have to hide yourself like that," Ryou said. He sighed, it wasn't going to work, anyone with eyes in their head can see that Monodramon was digimon but it was the best he could do. Monodramon let loose a few choice words about hiding but followed Ryou off the train when it stopped. People looked amazed at the broken windows and junk strewn all over the floor of train car number 5 but were scared out of the willies when they saw a coat covered digimon walk out with a human boy. They kept a good distance away from Ryou and made way for the two in the crowd of people to let them out. Nervous whispering could be heard every now and then.
"Say, isn't that Akiyama Ryou? You know the 'Legendary Tamer'?" A young boy said to another of his friends. It was full of admiration and no fear that Monodramon was with him.
"I wanna digimon too," a young girl told her mother.
"You can't have one! They're dangerous;" the mother answered back her daughter.
The grumbling and so on was easily lost since Ryou and Monodramon quickly exited the subway into Hongou. It had stopped raining and puddles of rain water were collected here and there. Monodramon removed Ryou's coat off his head to get a better look around. The coat was impeding his line of sight.
"Well at least we know there are a few fans out there," Monodramon grinned to Ryou. Then stopped when he saw the pensive look on his Tamer's face. Ryou said nothing and sighed.
"What's with you?" Monodramon asked.
"I'm just thinking... If people were angry enough to throw rocks and break windows to try and hurt you... That means that everyone in this city is afraid of digimon... I mean I'm getting tired of seeing terrified faces everywhere I go with you," Ryou said.
"Are you saying you don't want me around?" Monodramon asked suspiciously. Ryou blinked and looked at Monodramon.
"Absolutely not! I did not say that... I'm just saying I'm getting annoyed at people who don't understand and just blindly fear what they can't understand. I mean I think ninety percent of the adults of this city hate you for being a digimon," Ryou answered annoyed.
"Oderint dum metuant," Monodramon answered in a slightly darker voice and his eyes shined a bit. It was a very familiar voice that Ryou shuddered at the memory at. Monodramon blinked and the glean in his eyes and voice returned to normal. Ryou however had all ready taken a step back when he recognized the voice that Monodramon used.
".... I wish Mille would stop doing that...." Monodramon said sighing.
"Well I just hope that he doesn't come out, bad enough that he has a thing for me..." Ryou said shuddering at the thought of his mortal enemy and subsequent attempts to kill him before.... Plus the rather disturbing confession of his 'affection' for Ryou.
"You have to remind me about that?... He seems to be fuming and plotting on how to make you his..." Monodramon said annoyed. Ryou just rolled his eyes and began walking while Monodramon followed after him with the jacket over his head. Luckily there not that many people out on the streets tonight and so they weren't harassed. It was soon that arrived at a dark house with no lights on but waiting at the gate was a man who held a candle. He saw Ryou and Monodramon approach and motioned to them.
"Over here," the man motioned towards the door of the house. Ryou checked the address and noted that it was the right place. Ryou approached the man and ushered Monodramon right into the house.
"I heard from Impmon that you were coming over Akiyama-kun," the man spoke again as he closed the door. Ryou removed his shoes and then turned his head to look at the adult.
"May I ask who you are?" Ryou asked the man who smiled weakly.
"I'm Iramoto Kachiro. I'm Makoto and Ai's father," Mr. Iramoto answered. He looked fairly distraught was pulling through all right.
"I'm Akiyama Ryou. Pleasure to meet you... Though I wish we could have met under more auspicious circumstances," Ryou answered and bowed slightly to the older man. Mr. Iramoto sighed and looked defeated.
"I know this might be asking for much Akiyama-kun... but could you talk to my daughter and son about this all? A digimon killed our dog, Kesa, and my kids aren't taking it too well. My wife and Impmon are trying to help but it's really affecting them," Mr. Iramoto asked politely. Ryou blinked and nodded while Monodramon sniffed the air of the house and wrinkled his nose.
"Phew! What smells?" Monodramon asked. The stench was terrible, especially for his sensitive nose that picked it up. Mr. Iramoto winced and guided the two down the hallway where they came upon a covered portion of the hall. A jacket was over two separate pieces of something and had blood soaking through and drying all over it and the floor. Ryou could smell the faintly rotting flesh and could see the tail of dog peeking out from the jacket. Ryou bent down and took the blood soaked jacket off to see the dull-eyed head of Kesa. The rest of the body was a little bit away from the head but Ryou got the gist of what had happened to the dog. It had been cut down the middle of its back and exposed its internal organs perfect for Ryou's view. Monodramon gagged and Ryou could only harden his resolve through a serious urge to retch. Ryou covered up the body again with the jacket and stood up.
"... Why didn't you clean this up?" Ryou asked in a neutral voice.
"Impmon said to leave everything as is until you arrived," Mr. Iramoto explained. Ryou looked down at the corpse of Kesa and nodded.
"You can get rid of the body..." Ryou said. He felt sick chills run through his body and Monodramon turned his back on the bloody remains of the dog. It was just sick and Mr. Iramoto could only nod before beginning to clean up the mess that was Kesa. A little further away from the dog's dead body was a large black stain and the remains of what seemed to be spider webs. Ryou went up to the black spot and looked at it closely. Monodramon came to his side and took a light sniff of the black substance.
"... Ryou... It smells like data but it stinks so much I can't stand it!" Monodramon said covering his snout. Ryou narrowed his eyes and dipped his finger into the black substance. Most of it had dried but a bit of it came onto Ryou's finger. He rubbed it together with his thumb and index finger and noted the texture of how it felt. It was a bit gritty due to the fact it was partially dried and felt disturbingly like blood.
"Are you sure this is data?" Ryou asked Monodramon. It didn't make sense at all. Ryou knew of no digimon or thing from the Digital world that 'bleed' data.
"Positive... Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Monodramon asked as he watched his partner take the black substance to his mouth and take a taste. Monodramon just stared while Ryou spat it out quickly as soon as it touched his tongue. The black substance tasted like tar mixed with turpentine and, for some strange reason, Alkaloid mints. It tasted terrible and Ryou made a face.
"... You're sick and you're crazy... Did you know that?" Monodramon stated in a sickened voice after watching what his partner do.
"Ugh..." Ryou said and went into the kitchen to get a drink of water to wash out the taste.
"... I think I'll go talk to Makoto and Ai now," Ryou said as he gargled out the water from his mouth to wash out the taste of the digital blood.
"They're upstairs together," Mr. Iramoto said with a wavering voice. He grabbed a black garbage bag and stuffed Kesa's body and the jacket in it all together. Ryou made a noise of acknowledgement and down the hallway, past the kitchen and living room to the stairs. As Ryou walked he noticed another black stain and a deep gash in the sides of the hallway. It was deep and had three distinctive marks running parallel together and when he past the living room Ryou noticed that the glass window was partially shattered. The rain had stopped but the floor was wet with rain and glass littered the ground from some sort of impact. Ryou stopped and stepped back a bit to correlate the black stain and the living rooms door. He discovered the shattered glass door was roughly the same placement as the black stain of digital blood. Monodramon went into the living room and went up to the glass. Taking a whiff from the thing and then shrugged.
"Sorry Ryou. The rain washed out the scent," Monodramon explained apologetically. Ryou nodded and continued his way down the hall until he reached the staircase going up. Ryou couldn't hear anything but Monodramon could clearly hear muffled sobs and soft words of comfort being said to someone. It was rather pitiable and Monodramon could only look down with eyes downcast. Ryou noticed the sombre attitude of his partner and turned to look at him.
"Something wrong Mono?" Ryou asked.
"... Yeah... It occurred to me that this fight that I'm expecting is going to take in a lot more than we're going to take out," Monodramon answered. Ryou grimly set his face and then smiled.
"We'll be prepared then..." Ryou stated simply and went up the stairs. He could now hear Impmon's voice speaking soothingly to another while a higher pitched girl's voice argued back. Ryou approached a door and lightly knocked on it. All conversation on the other side ceased and Mrs. Iramoto opened to door. Her face was lined with worry but was calm, behind her Makoto played despondently with a dog leash and Ai seemed to be arguing with Impmon. Ai however could only look at the Legendary Tamer with teary eyes and turned away while Impmon looked at Ai helplessly. Finally he sighed and turned to Ryou. Impmon was covered in bandages. One around his leg was had some black digital data soak through while the rest were just a few bruises and minor cuts that had all ready clotted on Impmon's black skin but Ryou could see the difference of some of the drying data against Impmon's skin.
"You came in time," Impmon said weakly. Ryou bowed to Mrs. Iramoto and then entered the room. He headed straight to Makoto who played with dog leash.
"Hey," Ryou began and smiled at Makoto who looked at Ryou blankly. The bloodied socks of Makoto had been removed before Ryou arrived but Monodramon could smell the blood of Kesa on Makoto distinctly.
"...." Makoto could only look at Ryou for a brief moment before looking down at the dog leash, ignoring him completely, and concentrating wholly on the leash. Ryou felt awkward and only pat Makoto on the head affectionately.
"Just hang on there buddy... I mean your mother and father don't want you to be sad and everything. Monodramon and me will do everything in our power to help you... I promise you," Ryou said to Makoto in a soothing voice. Makoto continued to fiddle with leash and Ryou got up to approach Ai and Impmon who stood a little away from Makoto. Mrs. Iramoto closed the door of children's bedroom and that was then that Makoto spoke though his eyes never left the leash.
"... Is it in your power to bring back Kesa?" Makoto asked quietly. Ryou stopped and looked over his shoulders to Makoto. Makoto looked up to stare at Ryou straight. The room held their breath and Ryou could only shake his head. Mrs. Iramoto went to her youngest son and kneeled by his side with him.
"... Sorry... I'm not god or anything. That's not in my power to change... Even if I could I wouldn't," Ryou explained. Makoto looked down and away from Ryou.
"Well I should have that power..." Makoto said tersely. It didn't sound like a six-year-old who was saying it and Ryou could only feel a brief feeling of unease. He heard that tone of voice from another young boy a few years ago but couldn't remember whom or when. The memories of the past was terribly blurred and such that Ryou often wondered if he had dreamed them up or something. Impmon could only frown at what his other Tamer said.
"You say that without thinking. There will be a time when power will be an unbearable sin and burden," Impmon said softly, a voice marked by an experience made a scant year ago. Makoto stopped playing with the leash and looked away from them all. He turned his back away from Impmon and dropped the leash to the floor. Mrs. Iramoto lightly hugged her youngest son tenderly hoping that he would simply relax.
"Impmon!" Ai said in a stern voice. Ryou approached Ai who simply frowned at his approach.
"Hey. How are you doing?" Ryou asked pleasantly. Ai however simply looked him straight in the eye and answered.
"You shouldn't make empty promises like that and raise his hopes like that," Ai stated. Ryou blinked and looked at Ai in surprise. Her statement sounded unusually cynical for someone so young..
"... I'll keep that in mind," Ryou said pleasantly. Ai only seemed to get annoyed by Ryou's amiable reply and frowned. Ryou stopped smiling and decided to take on a different tack.
"Sorry... I didn't mean to do raise his hopes," Ryou answered. Ai could only sigh and looked at Impmon who stood beside Monodramon.
"Ai, we can't just charge out of the house and hunt down what attacked us. We don't even know what's going on," Impmon explained for the fifth time. His young Tamer failed to understand that they were completely blind to what was happening.
"What did happen?" Monodramon asked.
"You won't believe what I have to tell you," Impmon began. He shifted uncomfortably in his bandages.
"Try me," Ryou stated.
"... Have you ever seen a digimon get blown away by an actual gun?" Impmon asked.
******
The rain had stopped and the temperature of the night was rising, which was a good thing in Takato's mind because he was very cold and very wet from running in the rain a few moments ago. Juri stood unsteadily to her feet with Culumon in her arms and looked at the bottle of sake on the floor of Guilmon's former residence. Takato didn't notice because he was busy looking out the door where Abaddon had just stepped out of and simply disappeared into thin air.
"Now where did he go?" Takato asked to no one in particular. Juri looked away and to where Takato was standing. She looked at his form in the pale street lamps from outside and noted how different he looked in the darkness. Strangely foreboding sight as he stood in the doorway and Juri forced herself to remember that it was Takato standing in there and not some stranger. Juri was about to say something but ended up sneezing. Takato turned around from the sound of Juri's sniffling and walked to her with a kind smile and a hand outstretched.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, we're both soaked to the bone. We better go to Makino-san's place before we get sick," Takato said. Juri nodded her assent and tentatively reached out and held onto Takato's hand. Takato noticed Juri's reluctance but didn't say anything about it. He ignored the sake bottle on the floor and looked around the dilapidated and once-proud residence of Guilmon before leading Juri out by the hand. The puddles of rain water splashed by his feet as he exited.
"Come on Guilmon," Takato called out. Guilmon who was busy wandering around his former residence with a critical eye before walking out.
"Nothing's changed Takato," Guilmon commented as he left his 'house' behind. They walked down the steps slowly but Juri couldn't help but note the irony of Guilmon's statement. 'Nothing's changed', it was such a lie but a lie that Juri often found herself finding comfort in. That way she could always tell herself that there was nothing really wrong with Takato at times. Juri found herself staring at Takato as he led the way with his hand over Juri's, it was then that Juri let go of Takato's hand to walk at her own pace. Takato noticed that Juri had let go of his hand and turned around.
"... Is something wrong?" Takato asked concerned. Juri looked up at Takato and simply nodded no.
"No, nothings wrong. I just wanted to walk on my own that's all," Juri answered. She walked up to Takato's side but then noticed the look in his eyes was still there. That desperate, and oft times, wild expression that frightened her. Takato screwed up his courage once more and decided to ask Juri a question he was sure that she would not answer.
"Juri... I meant to ask you earlier but... Why was Abaddon staring at you? I mean he looked like he knew something and..." Takato trailed off. His suspicions began to assert themselves but he ignored them, but he felt an underlying feeling of anxiety. Juri felt uncomfortable under Takato's gaze and shifted slightly.
"... I don't know..." Juri lied and hated herself but she reminded what Abaddon said to her about her half the deal. She couldn't tell anyone or she would have to forfeit the life of a loved one. Quite frankly she couldn't stand the thought of losing another person dear to her or any death at all. Takato listened to Juri's answer and shifted uneasily this time. He hated to think of the possibility but it felt like Juri was lying to him. Guilmon noted the strain of silence the two were having and the group came to a stop for a brief moment by themselves. Culumon could only look up at Juri with wide eyes and wonder.
"I... I think you're not telling me everything Juri," Takato said in a nervous voice. Underneath he felt a bit betrayed and disappointed, he felt so sure that Juri trusted him. After all he had done to prove to her how much he cared... There were still things that seemed to be in their way and he had to admit he wasn't always truthful to her all the time but he tried. Juri looked downcast by Takato's statement and made no motion to deny or concur at Takato's suspicions.
"It's not that I'm accusing you... But I just want you to know that..." Takato struggled with various emotions such as anger at the possibility of what Abaddon had done to Juri and nervousness as he tried to make his mind as to what to say to Juri.
'Tell her that you love her,' a little voice in the back of Takato's head demanded but his mouth refused to comply.
"... as a friend, I'm always there for you," Takato finished. Juri could only look up at Takato and look him straight in the eye. She could see the roiling conflicting desires in his eyes and could only give him a painful smile.
"... I know... And as a friend I have to ask you not question me but trust me," Juri said quietly. Takato felt like he had been punched in the stomach but he didn't show it though he was quite sure that it somehow involved Abaddon. If he couldn't get the answer out of Juri then he would get it out of Abaddon eventually.
'I'm such a trusting idiot... She's hiding again and there's nothing I can do...' Takato thought with slight bitterness.
"I understand..." Takato said and then a pause. The silence between them became unbearably and even Guilmon and Culumon seemed to feel rather edgy. This sort of thing hadn't happened between Juri and Takato since the loss of Leomon. The silence of quiet pain and want of telling but no breakthrough.
Desperate to the end the awkward silence between them Takato decided to speak.
"Um... Juri... How was Ruki acting for the last few days?" Takato asked. Juri felt relieved that the question no longer pertained to Abaddon any more.
"... She was acting really irritable for the last few days I have to admit. Talk to Renamon about it if you want more information but she was acting really restless for a few days before she disappeared yesterday... I mean she wandered around the city looking for fights. She kept on saying she needed to time alone away from everyone," Juri answered as she thought about it. Ruki acted in an extremely hostile and annoyed manner and pushed everyone, including her away without a thought. It was as if Ruki had reverted back to her old self before any of them met. At first Juri dismissed it as undue stress that Ruki was putting herself through or a mood swing of some sort.
"I think I know what you mean. She threatened to throw me into a garbage can if I didn't leave her alone and I didn't say or do anything to her... It was as if she... well... nervous..." Takato said. He shook his head in disbelief, it wasn't that he doubted Ruki's ability to carry out her threat but the fact she looked almost all too willing to throw him into a garbage can if he gave her the barest reason to.
"I wouldn't say nervous... More like she was on edge about something that she couldn't let go or release," Juri commented. The silence returned between them but it was slightly more bearable because they pondered upon a mutual friend's strange behaviour prior to her disappearance.
"It's as if... Ruki knew that something was going to happen and left... I first thought it was just that she just wanted time alone because she was such a loner but now with these attacks, it makes me wonder if I pegged her reasons wrong," Takato finally admitted. Juri remained silent and digested the information given and thought upon it a bit more. She shook her head and straightened her back straight despite the rush of blood that went to her head. Juri regretted drinking so much sake but now it was too late to change anything.
"... I guess we should get moving, there's nothing more we can do about it here. Let's go back and get everyone together and find Ruki... She's the only person here who can answer why she left and perhaps tell us more about what's happening," Juri said and Takato nodded. They didn't hold hands this time and walked together to Ruki's house with Guilmon trailing from behind, unsure how to comfort his Tamer or how to quantify the situation. There were no police officers in the street as they walked and the street lamp's lights created more malevolent shadows that seemed to twist and jerk with movement. The clouds in the sky and the lights of the city obscured the stars and the sky was misty. It wasn't until Takato and Juri reached the very gates of the ancient Makino household that they began smelling the heavy smoke in the air and the sounds of various sirens in the air. They looked at the sky wordlessly and saw a strange orange red color flickering in the distance, painting themselves on the clouds and walls of the city. Takato then quietly realized that he was watching a fire but Juri was one who was first to notice a news helicopter. They all however heard an explosion that caused them all to jump. It wasn't until then that they saw a digimon, floating in the air, fire off a green energy blast and hit the helicopter that subsequently went into a tailspin. There was nothing they could do about it.
***(a few minutes prior)***
Hirokazu swore in his head over and over again. His brain tried to keep up mad jumble of emotions that ran through him. Was his mother safe? Where was his father? Who was attacking? A myriad of questions and no answers only increased Hirokazu's fears. His feet pounded the pavement and sent water everywhere as he ran through the wet street to his house. Night had fallen and the bright electric lights of the city light up the sky and dark streets, letting Hirokazu see ahead perfectly. He could see the red and orange light of a fire some sort further down the road and the smell of smoke in the air. He then heard a large explosion and a familiar shout ahead of him.
"Destruction Grenade!"
Hirokazu could hear Guardromon's familiar voice and the sounds of exploding grenades a street before him. Smoke raised from one of the houses was visible for thousands of meters around. There was a fire and it was spreading, the sounds of fire engines sirens could be heard and people were coming out of their houses to see what was going on. Hirokazu ignored them all and ran past them to his home. That was all that mattered to Hirokazu at that moment, home and family. Above Hirokazu, a single news helicopter sauntered around, recording the spectacular battle below them. It's powerful lights pointed downwards to the ground and illuminated the battle. Guardromon could be fully seen out in the backyard of a now burning house that was raging out of control behind him. The flickering flames licked hungrily at the wooden structure of the house and reduce to ash. Another digimon that looked like a skeleton was dodging Guardromon's attack and let the attack plough them into the next-door neighbours' yard where they exploded and sent shrapnel flying. Luckily for Guardromon there was no one home next door, the bad thing about it was that the house was now catching on fire due to his missed attacks. Annoyed Guardromon closed into his enemy for hand-to-hand combat to avoid making a bigger mess then necessary. He had no idea how the digimon by itself managed to cut the power and phone lines to the house but that was moot point. Hirokazu's home was now up in flames but Sayumi ran out the yard leaving Guardromon and the enemy digimon alone.
"Digimon? Tamer's digimon?" The misshapen humanoid with surprisingly strong stick thin arms asked in a monotone voice. It's blood red eyes fixed itself on Guardromon waiting for his next attack. Guardromon deemed it unnecessary to answer and charged the digimon. Using his jet boosters in his feet and back, Guardromon surged forward and tried to punch his enemy. With surprising grace the enemy digimon jumped into the air, easily avoiding Guardromon's punch. Then digimon simply floated in the air and looked down to see a fleeing woman down the street and news helicopter in the air.
"We are now showing you live footage of two digimons fighting in the west Shinjuku area! As you can see there are some buildings on fire," a pretty young female news reporter said as the winds from the helicopter's blade caused her hair to go all over the place. Luckily it was tied down, so it didn't get into her face or mouth as she did her report. The cameraman felt very nervous when he noticed one of the digimon fighting below jumped into the air and literally just stood on nothing but air, just about eighty feet below them. Going into a close-up shot he noticed something terribly wrong. The digimon opened it's mouth and a strange green colored light was forming, most of all it was pointed at them.
Sayumi had taken the opportunity to flee from the fire and directly down the same street that Hirokazu was on. Some of Sayumi's blonde hair was slightly singed but she didn't care, she inanely wondered if this was what her son had been talking about when he told her to get out of the house. She ran without really looking ahead as did Hirokazu who was concentrating on getting to his house. As a result of their lack of concentration around their surrounding and most of all what was in front of them, they crashed into each other.
"OW!" Hirokazu said and then picked himself off the wet street. He looked down at his now dirtied and wet pants and groaned.
"Hiro?" A shaky Sayumi asked as she looked up to see what had hit her. It was her son and he seemed all right.
"Mom? ... Are you all right?!" Hirokazu asked at first unsure and then panicked. He notice that some of his mother hair had been burned off but other than that she seemed fine and no worse for wear.
"We have to get out of here!" Sayumi said and grabbed her son by the arm. She was up in a flash and tried to drag her son away from the site of the fight. Hirokazu resisted and managed to pull away from his mother.
"I can't mom! I have to help Guardromon!" No sooner did Hirokazu say that a strange humming noise was in the air and then a powerful swoosh of air. Like wind, leaves went in a direction and puddles rippled but from where Hirokazu stood he could see a single ray of bright green light, originating from the mouth of the enemy digimon that hit a news helicopter above it. Instinctively Hirokazu took out his D-arc and pointed it to the digimon. The D-arc activated itself and information feed right through.
"Retribution Strike!" The enemy digimon said. Hirokazu read off his D-arc to see what the digimon was.
... Ekamon... Child... Viral... Attack: Retribution Strike...
Guardromon flew upwards at Ekamon in a futile attempt to stop the attack. Guardromon considered firing off another round of attacks but the chances of accidentally hitting the helicopter and possible houses were too great. Because Guardromon froze up in his decision Ekamon fired off his attack and hit the helicopter. At first nothing happened, not even the cameraman or news reporter noticed anything different. They all wondered if the digimon had actually missed them with its attack but anyone outside and watching could plainly see the green energy beam cut right through the helicopter. The people in the helicopter just never realized that they were all going to die. The energy beam hit the rotor blades of the helicopter and it burst into flames. It began spinning out of control and was going to crash, Guardromon flew up to the helicopter and took a firm grip on the side of the helicopter to try and control the landing. The cameraman kept his camera steady on Guardromon and could see the other digimon prepare another attack while Guardromon was busy trying keep the helicopter from crashing. The news reporter was too scared to scream and the pilot silently prayed for deliverance and strength.
Hirokazu's eyes widened and automatically he felt his hand reach into his pocket and grab two cards. He prayed to whatever was out there the two cards he just grabbed out of his pockets could save Guardromon and the people in the helicopter. It was complete gamble since he didn't know what cards he just pulled out, let alone what the result of the combo he was going to was going to be like.
"Card slash!" Hirokazu said and took the two cards and ran through the D-arc's scanner.
Guardromon however noticed a large looking shield was now on his back and that he felt much stronger, though not strong enough for him to land the helicopter without a crash landing. The gathering particles from Ekamon's next attack on Guardromon were finally launched.
"Retribution Strike!"
The green beam hit Guardromon's back but now since there was a shield protecting him, the attack dissipated harmlessly, leaving only a few burn marks on the shield. The force of the attack however sent him and the helicopter forward and over on the streets uncontrollably. The people in the helicopter screamed as the shock pulsed them forward and down on the streets. Guardromon put his jets on max power and strained his strength to the point that he swore that his metal was bending and melting due to the effort. The crash landing was something truly spectacular for Hirokazu, not because it was a impressive sight to behold but rather because the helicopter was now on the ground and grinding to halt while Guardromon held it back. Sparks flew from the metal and street and people cleared the streets as quickly as possible. The passing helicopter dented in the walls and it was coming down straight towards Hirokazu and his mother, Sayumi. On instinct Hirokazu called upon hereto unknown reserves of adrenaline-inspired strength and pushed his mother out of the way. She landed in a garden that belonged to a young couple who looked on with shock at Hirokazu's action. The helicopter continued to come straight down the street towards him.
"Oh shi..." Hirokazu said as he tried to take a step back but didn't make it in time. The helicopter's side door hit Hirokazu square in the chest and sent him flying in the air. Guardromon saw in horror it all and immediately strained to stop the helicopter before it ran over Hirokazu's body which landed a few feet in front of the helicopter, unmoving and bleeding from his mouth, Hirokazu could see the helicopter come barrelling to his body but couldn't move. The wind was knocked out of him and he swore that he had a few broken ribs for his efforts but with eyes open he watched the helicopter come. In desperation Guardromon pumped more energy into his jets to slow down the helicopter. Those jets from Guardromon's feet finally gave out with a terrific bang but the helicopter managed to stop in time by a mere meter away from Hirokazu's body. Guardromon crashed onto the ground while Sayumi ran to her fallen son.
"Hiro!" Sayumi screamed. The people in the helicopter got out and looked at Guardromon who was struggling to get to his feet, to only notice that his feet had literally melted off in his effort and that his arms were bent in an odd angle. A testament of Guardromon's efforts to save the people in the helicopter, regardless of the cost. The cameraman had ran his live feed camera the entire time and recorded Guardromon and then Hirokazu's prone form on the ground. They were all shaken and when the cameraman swung around to record Guardromon he noticed in the air was Ekamon charging up another shot for an attack.
"Watch out!" The cameraman screamed at Guardromon who could only look up dazed a bit and see an approaching danger.
"Retribution Strike!"
Guardromon reached his back and pulled the shield out from there, made possible due to the odd bending of his arms, and placed in front of him. The shot hit the shield once more and took the damage. Sparks flew off the shield and Guardromon felt his arms bend under the force, cracks appeared on the shield until it finally shattered but the beam luckily dissipated before the shield gave way.
"That's a dirty trick! Why don't you try picking on someone who can take you on!" Hirokazu said as he gripped his ribs and forced himself on his feet as his mother helped him up. Grimacing with pain from his abused body, Hirokazu managed to stand on his two feet without further assistance and somehow managed to look cocky as he gave Ekamon the finger, despite the pain and bleeding mouth. He no longer gripped his sides in pain though it hurt like hell and hoped that his diversion was giving Guardromon some time to recover.
"Die Tamer!" Ekamon said and flew straight towards Hirokazu. Sayumi used her body to protect her son who was surprised and out stretched her arms to give Hirokazu maximum coverage with her body. She trembled with fear but looked defiantly back at Ekamon.
"MOM!" Hirokazu said in shock but Guardromon managed to drop the shield he held and launch his attack in time.
"Destruction Grenade!"
The twin missiles hit Ekamon dead on and caused an explosion in mid air, only a few feet away from Sayumi who still stood to protect her son. The rush of wind and specks of data splattered all over the place. Guardromon's attack managed to vaporize most of Ekamon, so there wasn't much left of it's body. Guardromon kneeled weakly where he was with his arms out in attack mode before collapsing to the ground with a metallic clang.
"Mom?" Hirokazu asked again. Breathing was becoming a painful thing but he managed to walk up to his mother who was still standing in front of him. Her arms were by her sides and he noticed a rather shocked look on her face. She turned to face Hirokazu and stared at him.
"… You… You… You stupid and brave son of mine…" Sayumi said. She hugged her son lightly taking care that she didn't hurt him any more due to his broken ribs.
"Um…" Hirokazu shifted uneasily and held in the urge to scream in pain. His mother was taking care not to hug tightly but the pain was still there. He shifted his attention on Guardromon and with Sayumi's help he approached gripping the side of his broken ribs.
"Help me… I've fallen and can't seem to get back up," Guardromon said weakly. At that the helicopter pilot went up to Guardromon and tried to push him upright again. Guardromon however was too heavy and such for one person, the camera however kept on rolling and all of Tokyo could see what was happening. The reporter forgot about her 'exclusive' story and helped the pilot push, it was then that people came out from their houses and from the street to help push Guardromon back up. Hirokazu smiled with gratitude as more than a dozen people managed to get Guardromon off his face on the pavement.
"How ya doing buddy?" Hirokazu asked painfully.
"Fine… But I'm going to take a long time to recover," Guardromon noted as he checked his arms and legs. His body was dented and bits of wiring were short-circuiting here and there but Guardromon calculated that internal repairs would take at least a day to repair under optimal circumstances but his external would take at least three, that was his optimistic calculations. He looked up to his Tamer and noted that Hirokazu was now hanging off his mother's shoulder.
"Hiro?" Sayumi asked concerned by her son's condition. Hirokazu looked up to his mother with a smile and then bent his head downward to throw up blood onto the street. Sayumi looked shocked and helped put her son on the ground. His breathing was ragged and short, the people in the street made way for an ambulance and strange black van to pass through without hindrance. From the black van five people came out from it and immediately went up to Guardromon, they grabbed the cameraman and turned off the camera, much to the protest of the news reporter.
"What are you doing?" The cameraman said angrily as the black clothed goons took his camera away. The ambulance let out three paramedics and a stretcher and immediately went to Hirokazu's side. Sayumi panicked and listened to the paramedics.
"He has internal bleeding and at least three broken ribs! We've got to take him to the hospital!" One of the paramedics said as they loaded Hirokazu onto the stretcher. Hirokazu stared up into the faces of the paramedics dazed and confused, wondering what just happened. Oh sure he was in pain and such but he didn't expect to throw up blood or collapse. Was he going to die? Strange, the only time he had ever asked that question was when Beelzebumon fought against them a year ago after killing Leomon. Why would he ask this same question again? Hirokazu didn't mean to but he nodded off pondering about death. Then it hit him as he lost consciousness, he realized how close he was to dying today. Oh well, at least saved some lives tonight, dying didn't seem so scary if you know you made all the difference to someone's life.
"Are you his mother? Please come with us," another one said and grabbed Sayumi by the arm. The quickly bundled off the two into the ambulance while the men in black prevented the helicopter news crew from recording any more of the event. With some marked difficulty they managed to get Guardromon into the back of the large van, close the door and drive off. The sirens of the ambulance could be heard and everyone got out of the way. Fire trucks were coming to the site of the crash and fire while even more news agency descended upon the area like locusts.
Sayumi could only hold her son's hand as the ambulance began moving; it was all she could do as a mother. And yet... It seemed her son no longer needed a mother any more. The way he had selflessly put his life on the line for her sake and the sake of three practical strangers, it seemed far too heroic for a child to perform on the basis of his strength of character. That made her feel all the more wistful of her son's childhood, the past she would give anything to change and make better for her son if she knew that this was going to happen to him. Why did Hiro have to be a Tamer? There was no other answer to that question other than that Hirokazu wanted to be one.
That answer gave her no comfort.
***(during the battle)***
The streets were filled with people looking down the street behind Kenta. People mesmerized by the imagery shown on their TV's watched while children looked out their windows. The slick streets and their lights bore down on those who traversed them. Kenta found himself almost crashing into people hypnotized with the flames of battles behind him. He had push his way through and eventually tripped over something that sent him sprawling to the wet ground. The street soaked his pants and shirt. A small squeak of pain from his custom made pocket could be heard and Kenta winced. He looked into his pocket to check to see his partner and found the small Ultimate completely fine. The eyes of his partner looked up in annoyance and Kenta noticed that his entire shirt was now completely wet and muddy.
"Sorry Mari," Kenta said in an apologetic voice. He pushed his glasses up his nose and turned around a bit to see what was happening.
Kenta could hear a plethora of sirens. He could see evidence of a fire off in the distance, in the general direction of Hirokazu's house. Kenta watched a helicopter that was hovering over in the sky with its light pointing down. Kenta turned around and began running down the street to his house again but then he heard an explosion and turned around fully. MarineAngemon flew out of Kenta's pocket and hovered over his Tamer's shoulder but Kenta grabbed his partner and put him back into the pocket amid much squeaking and protests.
"You can't Mari, just bear with a bit longer," Kenta whispered fiercely back.
"... Pi pon pipe pii," MarineAngemon answered back in a whiney voice.
The smell of smoke entered his nostril and in the darkness of night were the faint shouts of panic. Kenta could only stand now and watch fire erupt from the houses and catch fire elsewhere. A green light hit the rotor of the helicopter and it descended to earth out of control until he saw Guardromon fly up to it and grab hold. With visible effort and strain of its jets, Guardromon grabbed onto the helicopter and attempted to bring it down safely. It was then that Kenta noticed something in the flickering flames of the fire. It floated in the air still and was gathering some sort of strange green power in its mouth. It was brighter than it would have been since it was night time now and Kenta found himself holding his breath, hoping that Hirokazu was doing something for Guardromon's sake. The blast fired off and hit Guardromon on the back but a shield appeared on Guardromon's back. A very familiar shield that caused Kenta to blink. MarineAngemon peeked out of Kenta's custom pocket to see what was going on.
"Hey! That's Aegis... Hirokazu was the one who took it from me after all... This probably the only time I'm going to be glad that Hirokazu keeps on forgetting to give me back my cards..." Kenta said to himself annoyed but immensely glad. That is until the helicopter seemed to go down with Guardromon for a crash landing. Kenta waited for the inevitable explosion from the helicopter crash was glad to find that heard nor saw any sort of explosion. Kenta smiled and then noticed the enemy digimon slowly descend until it was no longer visible. Kenta felt very worried and then another loud explosion rioted through the air. The blast could be seen perfectly from where Kenta was standing, he was tempted to run to Hirokazu's house but reminded himself that he had to get back home. He had to find out what had happened to his mother and father at his home. With reluctance Kenta departed from where he was standing and headed to his house. He took a turn to a quiet empty street and ran down to the fifth house.
The house was rather modest affair in itself. It had a gate and low walls that marked the boundaries of the front yard, which was puny indeed. The lights of the entire place was out and it was eerily quiet compared to the night sounds of sirens and talking which echoed through the street like a heaving sigh. Kenta checked his watch and noted that it was now eight thirty p.m. and strained his ears to hear his father playing Beethoven on the cello. His father always practiced the cello at this time when he came back home and ate dinner but the silence still persisted. The familiar mellow sounds of the cello were absent and Kenta felt nervous. He could almost imagine hearing his father hit the b flat note in the Beethoven Concerto No. 5 wrong. Or his mother wandering through the house chasing after the ever elusive and quite possibly fictional rat that no one had ever seen but his mother claimed to exist in the house. Yet there was no sound coming from his house and that made him feel very uncomfortable. MarineAngemon came out of his custom-made pocket, which his mother had sewn on for his sake, and floated by Kenta's shoulder. Kenta felt glad that no one saw MarineAngemon when he tried make a foray out of the pocket a few minutes ago.
"What do you think?" Kenta asked his partner in a serious voice. The sounds of feet walking down the street echoed and Kenta jumped in surprise.
"... Penpa... Pepe pi popepope pepin pu," MarineAngemon said. Kenta blinked and turned around to see a short black haired girl in a simple dress walk down the street. She looked up and saw Kenta and ran down the streets towards him.
"Kenta-kun! There you are! Have you seen the news!" She shouted as she ran down the street. Nakajima Miki was nervous and somewhat impressed to see Kenta at his house with MarineAngemon out in the open, seeing how negative everyone seemed to be with digimon lately. She wasn't afraid of digimon, after all how could anyone be terrified of MarineAngemon and Kenta together? MarineAngemon was the mirror opposite of big, ugly and evil. In fact the little digimon was positively cute with the added of effect of imitating it's Tamer's facial expressions with comical effects.
"Nakajima-san? What are you doing here? What's on the news?" Kenta said confused. Nakajima Miki lived only a block down the street but that didn't explain why she was here now. Every now and then she would come by with the others to play in the park or talk to him in school but other than that, nothing else.
"Hirokazu and Guardromon were on the news!" She said breathless and looked ready to cry. Kenta felt rather uncomfortable and was completely clueless as to how to comfort a girl. He should ask Takato about this topic when he had the chance.
"What happened to them?" Kenta asked tensely. Miki looked at Kenta reluctantly in the eye and answered. She was always taught by her mother to look at someone in the eye when you told them a potential devastating piece of news.
"They're both hurt really badly! I saw it on the news! Hirokazu threw up blood the collapsed and Guardromon got hauled away!" Miki said quickly. Kenta looked at the news and felt numb. His mouth went dry and eyes widened at the news. Hirokazu, the 'invincible' one, hurt to the point he threw up blood and collapsed? Impossible!... Right? Kenta remained silent for a moment and Miki wondered how he was taking the news.
"How badly do mean by badly? What hospital?! Where was his mother and father!?" Kenta exploded as he faced Miki. He didn't bother being polite about it, this was his best friend they were talking about. Miki blinked at the sudden explosion that came from Kenta. He gripped her by the arms with surprising strength and refused to let go.
"Hey! Hands off!" Miki shouted and pulled away from Kenta nervously.
"... Sorry..." Kenta said as he let go of Miki. He really didn't mean to panic on her like that but he kept on breathing hard. Miki looked concerned as Kenta hyperventilated at the news and went pale. He turned to face the door of his house and looked at it hard. Wordlessly he opened the gate and let himself up the stairs to the door. Miki followed after Kenta until he whirled around again to face her.
"Stay there!" Kenta said firmly. Miki blinked, she never heard Kenta so controlled before. This wasn't how Kenta usually reacted and even Kenta looked surprised at how he responded.
"Kenta? Is something wrong?" Miki asked unsure how to proceed. Kenta was always the nice one, the clueless one after Takato and Hirokazu. MarineAngemon flitted up the stairs after his partner, surprised by his outburst much like Miki.
"No... I mean yes!... Argh! Just stay there! This might be dangerous!" Kenta ordered though he felt even more unsure about what to do. MarineAngemon kept close to Kenta but Miki wasn't about to be shut out by Kenta. She marched right up to Kenta and came right to his side as he hesitated on opening his front door.
"Listen! Hirokazu got carried away by an ambulance! That digimon partner of his got carried away by some people! And your here at your house looking scared out of your mind! What's wrong!" Miki shouted at Kenta annoyed to get his attention.
"That's just it! I'm scared out of my mind!" Kenta shouted back at Miki.
"What?! I told you Hirokazu's in an ambulance! They're probably all ready at the hospital!" Miki argued back loudly. Kenta threw away the precaution of silence and faced Miki to shout back.
"You don't understand! Enemy digimon are appearing in the city! They're attacking everyone whose a Tamer! There could be one hiding behind that door or in my house!" Kenta shouted back at Miki. He hated this but what if Hirokazu didn't make it? What if he died? What if his parents were dead or injured? The myriad of 'what ifs' just pounded his brain and fear replaced all his emotions. Miki didn't understand the possible enormity of the situation at hand. She was ignorant as to what it felt like to put your life on the line and realize that there probably people depending on you to save their lives as well. Or in his case two entire worlds full of living beings desperate to do anything to live, even if it meant futilely throwing away their lives to fight back a monster that knew nothing of life or emotion.
"It's just a damn door! There's no monster hiding behind it!" Miki said, to punctuate her reasoning she threw open the door for Kenta but kept her eye on Kenta. Kenta looked at her annoyed and MarineAngemon ignored the two and simply looked into the darkened house. It was then they were greeted by the sickly sweet smell of blood and MarineAngemon's frantic voice.
"PI!!!"
Kenta and Miki slowly turned their heads to look behind the front door and into the darkness of the house. In the pale light from various street lamps a faint outline of a body could be seen. Kenta's hand shook as he reached into the house and placed his hands on wall to the light switch.
Clack... Clack... Clack...
Kenta turned the defunct light switch on and off again. The power was off completely and Miki chocked back the urge to scream. Her knees tremble and felt sick to her stomach. Kenta walked into the house and approached the body. It was then his foot brushed on something and Kenta stopped. He didn't want to look down to see what it was at his feet but inexorably his eyes looked down and froze. The object by his feet was roughly the size of a soccer ball but was a bit more oval shaped.
"No..." Kenta breathed. He wanted to scream, panic, cry, breakdown or something, anything but this numbness that pervaded his very soul. He kneeled down and noted that the ground with wet some sort of sticky liquid but Kenta tried not to make a guess of what it was. He knew what it was but his brain denied it, no, he denied it. It wasn't blood that he was kneeling and the strange round object was not a human head. It wasn't reality at all.
Miki backed off from the house and threw up on the steps sickened by the smell. There was only one time she ever smelt blood and that was when she was at a meat market in the countryside with her grandparents. She hated the place but kept silent about her disgust of it all. An overwhelming reason why Miki was a vegetarian, the thought of eating once living things that spent their last moments of their lives bleeding to death was more than she could bear. This was the same pungent smell of blood but this time Miki knew that the blood she was smelling was not from an animal.
Kenta ignored Miki. He was in his own little world in an attempt to shield his fragile psyche from the reality of it all. He picked up the head by the hair. It spun around a bit before the face faced Kenta and bits of dried blood flaked off. It's eyes were still open with a unmistakable look of horror etched on her face. Kenta could stop staring back into the drying eyes and weakly smile. He started to chuckle, his hands shaking and it was then that he buried himself in an illusion. He could hear his father upstairs playing the cello and getting the b flat note wrong, his mother was in the hallway greeting him back with a smile. His mother wasn't a beautiful woman in the physical sense but she was his mother, and that made her all the more beautiful in his mind. How many kids had called his mother a dog faced woman? Just how many times did he come to her with tears in eyes and come walking away with a smile? She was still there to comfort him, no matter what.
"Hi mom!" Kenta said with a deranged smile and happy lilt in his voice. Miki stopped retching and turned to see Kenta stand up with the head in both of his hands. The sheer shocking morbidity of it all stopped her from moving or doing anything else. MarineAngemon looked very disturbed by his Tamer's actions and words.
"Sorry I'm late, I had dinner at Makino-san's place... Oh still chasing after that rat eh?" Kenta continued his conversation with the head. He however didn't see a head in his hands, he saw his mother smiling back at him and answering his questions and upstairs the mellow strains of music from his father's cello.
"Kenta..." Miki said shocked. She felt sick to the bottom of her stomach. At the sound of her voice Kenta turned around with a smile on his face, his glasses were glowing in the dark as the light reflected off them. His hands and pants were marred with blood. She wanted to retch again but she had nothing left in her stomach.
"Oh Nakajima-san, how are you doing?" Kenta said as he walked further into the darkened house. He gently went up to the body which was what was left of Mrs. Kitagawa from where Miki was standing. The body was brutalized to the point Miki wondered if she could really call it a body at all. In one of the hands of the body was the telephone receiver with it's line cut from the phone and the lower half of the body's torso was a triple incision that spilt something out. The darkness of the house however kept Miki from seeing the gory details of exactly what had spilt out of Mrs. Kitagawa's dead body. Kenta put the head on his mother shoulders but it was unbalanced and hit the ground with a strangely hollow sound one would expect from wood hitting wood. Kenta smiled still and noticed the telephone receiver in his dead mother's hand.
"Oh, you're talking on the phone. No wonder I couldn't contact you at Ruki's place. I'm going upstairs to see dad, okay?... Hmm?... Oh yeah my shoes. I got to take him off..." Kenta said to the dead body ignoring the horrified look on Miki's face. Kenta returned to the front door area and sat down to remove his shoes. Miki went up to Kenta scared out of her wits.
"Kenta... Kenta listen to me please!" Miki begged. She couldn't bear to look up to see Mrs. Kitagawa's dead body. She wanted scream and MarineAngemon kept well away from Kenta and the corpse.
"Penpa! Penpa!" MarineAngemon repeated over and over again. It sounded distressed by Kenta's denial of reality.
"Not now Mari," Kenta said calmly. He looked at his partner and smiled. He got up and ran further into the hall in his socked feet without looking back. They got soaked by the blood on the ground but Kenta ignored it. To look back or look around was to shatter his illusion. There was no dead body in the front of the house and the cello was still playing. This time he could hear the Bach suite for solo cello in G major, a sad sounding piece that Kenta always liked hearing. He was going to try and find his father.
"Kenta your mother is dead!" Miki screamed at him. She went after him as he walked down the hall. She ignored the blood on the floor and MarineAngemon chased after Miki who ran down the hall after Kenta. It was dark in the house but Miki had visited often enough to know where Kenta was heading. The second floor of the house, the music room of the Beethoven b flat horror as Kenta once dubbed it when she visited. The hallway was pock marked with deep slashes and some dried blood dribbled here and there. It was like a haunted house but the blood was real and darkness unnerving. Kenta rapidly went up the stairs ignoring the blood marring the handle as he went up. MarineAngemon kept close to Miki as they went after Kenta who eventually waited on top of the staircase for them. The smell of house was overwhelming for Miki and yet Kenta looked perfectly fine. The weak light from the outside revealed his facial features barely but it was enough for Miki to realize that Kenta was smiling dementedly.
"Shhh!" Kenta said taking a finger and placing it on Miki's lip. The finger was dripping in blood and went on Miki's lip. She slapped Kenta's hand away and grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt.
"Kenta! Listen to me!" Miki shouted at him. She was sick, terrified and horrified of Kenta but she couldn't just abandon him in the house.
"Hey, not so loud. My dad's playing in there... Can't you hear it?" Kenta asked softly. The smile was gone now and he lifted his bloodied hand to his face.
"Penpa... Pi pi pepapi..." MarineAngemon said in his nonsense language which Kenta understood completely.
"Oh?... When reality is fantasy and fantasy is reality, what's the difference?" Kenta asked his partner. His hand slid down his face lightly leaving a bit of blood down his cheek. Miki didn't say anything, Kenta's sanity had gone on vacation without so much as a 'gone fishing' sign left in it's place.
"I can still hear her... She's down stairs talking on the phone... Dad's here cursing his bow and wishing he had more time to practice... I'm here outside in the hall of the second floor with you... See? It's a fantasy but it is my reality. Why do I have to follow your fantasy? Your reality?" Kenta asked. His eyes bore into Miki and MarineAngemon with a contemptuous glean. Miki felt her lips move.
"Because your reality of fantasy is a lie..." Miki said in a soft voice. Kenta looked dumbfounded for a moment before slowly turning away. He threw open the door to the music room and saw a body sitting on a chair. The cello was on the ground on it's side with the bow on top, ready for playing but the player never moved. It's head was thrown back and hanged on the back of the chair. The smell of blood was strong again and Miki found herself unable to back off.
"A lie... It's all a lie?..." Kenta muttered to himself and approached his father's body near the cello. He sat on a spare chair and stared at it. His father's body looked like it was intact but when he looked closer there was a deep cut into his throat where blood had gurgled out from the wound. Kenta sat there with Miki outside the room and MarineAngemon flitting about. It was then with a fluid motion Kenta picked up his father's cello and bow and placed them into ready position for playing. A single note echoed and then another until finally Kenta began playing with his father's dead body in the other chair. The music stand was upset and the music scattered on the blood splattered floor. One of the cello's side was dripping with drying blood but Kenta ignored it. He didn't even know what he was playing either, he forgotten what the music was called but was light and happy. Happiness in each stroke with a bit bounce and staccato on the last note of each bar. Long sweeps of the bow like his father had taught him and proper finger placement on the black fingerboard of the cello. Melodious, warm and cheerful, so much different from the reality that Miki and MarineAngemon were firmly entrenched in. Kenta allowed himself to fantasize that he was just practicing the cello with his father again and Miki just visited to listen. It was perfect but then she heard Miki's voice shatter it again. It repeated itself over and over again until it drowned out the false sounds of the happy music.
'Your reality of fantasy is a lie...'
He stopped playing and put the bow down from the cello to stare at the window where some light filtered in. Lost in thought Kenta wrestled with his feelings. Images of his happier days, like when his mother made chocolate cookies or how his father took him to the Kiwanis Music festival. It was all gone now, they would never do the things that he remembered. Never would they laugh, cry, eat another dinner together or hug again.
"Kenta?..." Miki asked trembling. She wanted to run out of the house and away from the overwhelming smell of carrion but remained in the hallway before slowly moving into the room.
"... A lie?..." Kenta asked himself. His fantasy that his parents were alive came crashing down on him. His father is dead, the body straight in front of his own eyes. His mother is dead downstairs with her body cut into pieces and blood is all over him. The blood of his parents and that sent his mind careening back into unwelcomed reality. Tears dripped down from his face and Kenta go up from his chair. Miki placed her hand on his shoulder comfortingly.
"Kenta... We have to get out and call the police..." Miki managed to say. Kenta walked away from her with the cello and bow in hand, ignoring everything around him. He looked down at the cello in his hand and felt an overwhelming surge of hate boil out of him. He took the cello and threw it out the closed window with as much force as possible. The glass of the window broke and the instrument fell from the second floor window to the garden outside. The tingle of glass was blocked out by Kenta's scream of anger and disgust. He trembled before slowly turning around to face Miki and calmly began to speak.
"We have to get out you say... We have to call the police you say... Next you'll be telling me how it's all right... Next you'll tell me that the police will solve this and catch the bastard that did it but your wrong. No human did this... A digimon did... Just how the hell is the police going to catch a digimon? They aren't going to catch the piece of @#*& that killed my mother and father... You know why?..." Kenta said in a dangerously low voice to Miki who backed off a step from Kenta. He looked far too psychotic to be the same shy boy she knew from school.
"Kenta calm down..." Miki whispered. She wanted to gut herself right there. How could she tell Kenta to calm down after what they just saw? Kenta apparently didn't hear what Miki said and went on with his tirade.
"I'll tell you why! Because I'm going to kill the asshole who did this! I'll take a knife to slit open his abdomen and let all his data spill out! Then I'm going drive that knife through his eyes and blind him... Hell maybe I can get some sort of digimon vulture to feast on his slowly deleting body while his still alive and squirming! I'll make him beg for mercy... No death! And I won't grant it to that bastard! I'll make sure his soul arrives in Digital limbo!" Kenta ranted with increasing volume. He picked up a chair and threw out another window close by, MarineAngemon shuddered and went up to Kenta. Tears streamed down Kenta's face and he could only go to the bloody ground and pound his fist in rage. Miki came over Kenta with tears in her eyes and stood over him before kneeling by his side.
"Kenta... Please..." Miki begged though her words were lost on Kenta. She was helpless to help him and had no idea what to say next.
"... Mama... Papa... Why?" Kenta cried. MarineAngemon could only look on with saddened eyes and shudder. A feeling of dread and cold hate washed over him but MarineAngemon said nothing.
Outside the sounds of sirens, people talking and walking drowned out the sound of a single boy's misery easily. Those outside never knew, not even the neighbours who called the police after hearing a scream and seeing the cello come crashing out of the Kitagawa residence, what had happened. Only Miki who kneeled by Kenta's side and holding his bloody hands knew and she could only cry with blood on her lips.